Abiteboul: “Already a step ahead” for Ocon

Satisfied with Esteban's first attempts?

Everything went very well. He had a few problems on the first day and we lost a little time. Very little, in fact. The second day we were able to do the entire program which was twofold: allowing him to continue discovering his new environment and testing the new tire construction proposed by Pirelli. The team found him in good shape, straight away in the bath.

A big smile on his first day back #F1 @OconEsteban pic.twitter.com/FF7vQzqWan

— Formula 1 (@F1) December 3, 2019

Alan Permane, in charge of these two days of testing, was the first to tell me that he had at no time had the impression that Esteban had not taken part in the past season. So nothing in particular to report, other than the satisfaction of having been able to do with Esteban what we could not do with Daniel (Ricciardo. Editor's note) last year since Red Bull was opposed to it.

Clearly, we have saved time. We are a step ahead because, this year, we had to wait until Barcelona (end of February. Editor's note) for Daniel to tell us his wishes in terms of systems, positioning of the steering wheel controls, etc. Things that are not really difficult to change, except that they must be validated by the track and that lost time cannot be made up. His integration into the stable had also suffered a little.

Has Esteban found a team Renault very different from 2016?

Not so much on the track side since it was already Mark Slade, Nico's track engineer (Hulkenberg. Editor's note) this season, who took care of him at the time when he did a little riding with us. His Performance engineer has changed, his engine engineer has changed too, but Mark is still his interface with the rest of the technical team. On the other hand, things have changed more at the factory as he will discover this week.

And that's a wrap!
2019 track action

laps for @OconEsteban today.
P, 1:38.950 #RSspirit #AbuDhabiTest pic.twitter.com/FNFjWUWcbi

- Renault F1 Team (@ RenaultF1Team) December 4, 2019

Had he not gone back to enstone recently…

It's true, but it was a bit in an "incognito" mode to mold his seat. Saturday evening, he was with us for the “Christmas Party” at the factory, but this time it was in “Tuxedo” mode. For “work” mode, it starts this week (last week. Editor’s note) with a whole bunch of meetings. There is also a visit to Viry-Châtillon planned for Friday to meet our Engine department where, here too, it is eagerly awaited. For him as for us, it's gone.